Seeking the Tao in the Mortal World

Chapter 8: Taoist Temple

South Li Kingdom took the meaning of South Ming Li Fire, so the capital of the kingdom was called Li Fire City (Li is taken from the Li Hexagram in the Eight Diagrams, which also means fire. South Ming Li Fire is the strongest move of the Vermilion Bird of the South. It is its natal flame that can burn everything). Immortal Track Village was a small village in the southwest of this kingdom.

Qin Yi had been to the city in thee 2 months, and he intended to learn a lot of information. He knew that this was a very large continent with many kingdoms. South Li Kingdom was just a small remote kingdom. Further south was the Transverse Rift Valley, which was bottomless. Even birds could fly across the rift valley. In theory, South Li Kingdom was the most southern part of the mainland.

South Li was located in a remote area with many mountains, dense forests, rugged roads, so the way to the mainland was extremely inconvenient. The news was blocked. Qin Yi couldn’t inquire much of the real news about the mainland. Most of them were ‘rumors’, which authenticity was questionable after being spread around.

But the people here were good at fighting. When many big kingdoms in the mainland rose and fell, this remote and small kingdom had stood for countless generations as if it was blessed by God. The current king, King Wude, had been in power for 20 years.

Before Qin Yi heard that the Li Family’s enemy was the State Preceptor, he didn’t expect that the Li Family came from the capital city of Li Fire City. Although South Li was small, there were several counties. Li Fire City was separated from Immortal Track Village by at least 2 counties and several small cities. He thought they were from the county, but they are actually from the capital city, and they were powerful people who could confront the State Preceptor… Not to mention Li Qinglin who has other plans, but this Li Qingjun came so far solely to see the illusory immortal track that many people don’t believe at all. She’s really too free…

“Brother Qin, you really don’t want to change your horse?”

“Nope. The road is rough, the horse can’t gallop anyway. How much faster can I go after changing another horse?” Of course, Qin Yi would not tell them that it was good enough that he could ride a horse and walk slowly. If the horse galloped, he would fall to his death.

“Every minute counts. I really don’t understand how a young man like you can do everything slowly like an old man!”

“Qingjun!” Li Qinglin stopped the frustrated younger sister, “Brother Qin didn’t want to change the horse because he cherishes the past. This is a rare personal quality. What’s more, what Brother Qin said is right. This road is not suitable for horses to gallop; changing anything is the same.”

“Hmph, we can obviously go faster.”

On the mountain road, there were 2 fine horses. The people above wore brocade clothes with gold and silver belts. They carried silver spears made of black irons. An old horse followed a few feet behind. On top of the old horse, there was a young man dressed in coarse cloth with a dirty mace hanging beside the horse. He was holding an old gourd in his hand while drinking wine leisurely. He didn’t seem to bother about the passers-by’s weird gaze and Li Qingjun’s glare.

Li Qingjun ignored Qin Yi and sighed to his brother, “I really wish there are immortals. Riding the clouds and flying in the sky. How free is it.”

This girl was also angry with her brother before, but now she was getting close to her brother, because she was too used to being close to her brother since she was a child. Qin Yi squinted at her, feeling that this girl was ill-considered. She would even help to count the money if she was sold.

This time, Li Qinglin didn’t try to dampen her younger sister’s interest in seeking immortals, but he smiled dotingly instead, “I hope so too.”

Li Qingjun said leisurely, “Everyone hopes so too.”

A singing voice suddenly came from behind, “I’m wandering in the waters at Cangwu in the morning, but I return by dusk. In my cave house, I feel the majesty of the sun and moon. My sword is always roaring in the sheath. It will only…”

Li Qingjun looked at the sky fascinatedly. No matter what she thought of Qin Yi, the things that this lad popped up from time to time really touched her dreams.

But the singing stopped suddenly at the fourth sentence. Li Qingjun turned her head and said, “What’s the rest?”

“Oh, the following is ‘It will only be passed on when meeting the right person’. I just don’t get why it must be the ‘right person’, so I stopped singing it.”

“…” Li Qingjun felt that she could understand the original meaning, but after being misunderstood by Qin Yi, she couldn’t understand it, so she simply ignored what he misinterpreted, rolled her eyes, and said, “It was sung by a wandering taoist again?”

“So smart, you can even race to answer now.”

Li Qingjun sighed, “Maybe it’s really immortal.”

“Actually, immortals also ride donkeys.”

Killing the conversation again. Li Qingjun glared at him and didn’t bother to talk to him.

“Qin Yi.” Liu Su’s voice came from the sea of ??consciousness, “Where did you get these verses? Don’t fool me by saying the so-called wandering taoist.”

Qin Yi said silently, “Why should you care?”

“You wrote this song, right?” Liu Su sighed, “It can be seen that you also long for that scene, why don’t you follow me…”

“Shut up, repeat stick. In the worst case, I’ll go find an immortal by myself just like Li Qingjun.”

“Heh… Immortal affinity is hard to come by. Do you really think that everyone has such a good fortune? Ever since… Um…”

It started hiding words again. Qin Yi was used to it. Hence, he casually turned the gourd to one side and poured the wine on the head of the mace.

Who doesn’t want to cultivate to be an immortal; who doesn’t want to wander in the daytime and return in the evening?

But can everyone be a little more honest?

“Brother Qin.” Li Qinglin who was in front said suddenly, “The weather is not right. Looks like it’s going to rain soon.”

Qin Yi also looked at the sky. They had been on the road for a whole day, and it was dusk again. In the distance, black clouds were hanging in the sky. It was overcast. It really looked like it was going to rain.

“There is at least an hour’s journey to the town ahead, so we may not be able to make it in time.” Qin Yi went out to the county town on purpose to understand the world environment, so he still knew the way. “There is a taoist temple on the mountain on the right not far away. We can take shelter there.”

The 3 of them reined in their horses together and galloped toward the mountain road on the right.

The sky became more and more gloomy. Just as they saw the edges of the taoist temple in the forest from a distance, the rain started. They got off their horses at the same time, led their horses, and ran into the taoist temple. Looking at Li Qingjun from behind, he was amazed in his mind. This is really not a pampered young lady, but a trained woman who is used to wandering in the world.

“Brother Qin.” Li Qinglin who was running ahead suddenly stopped and asked hesitantly, “This taoist temple… has no abbot?”

Qin Yi withdrew his gaze from Li Qingjun’s back, looked around, and was shocked slightly.

When I was here before, there was someone in the taoist temple. When the sky is dark like this, as long as there are people, candles must have been lit. But the taoist temple in front is completely dead silent.

In the autumn wind, the leaves beside swayed. Occasionally, some leaves fell and some drifted in the wind. There was a faint bloody smell scattered in the wind like a barren grave.

“I only visited here a month ago. There were people there at that time.” Qin Yi carefully held the mace, “There may be something wrong. Be careful…”

Before he finished speaking, heavy raindrops poured down. Li Qingjun raised her long spear and kicked open the gate.

The view was quiet and dusty, and the taoist temple statue was covered with a huge spider web as if no one had lived there for a long time. There were even dead rats on the ground, which was probably where the bloody smell came from. Li Qingjun breathed a sigh of relief, “Maybe they have moved away. It’s nothing special.”

Li Qinglin also swept away the dirt naturally, picked up a futon, and lit the fire. He said with a smile, “It always happens on the outside.”

“…” Qin Yi scratched his head. When I watch TV and read novels, there is so-called abandoned temple love. Now I think about it, it’s a bit wrong. So dirty, how can people make love here?

Li Qinglin had already opened the package to get dry food, but Liu Su’s voice suddenly appeared in the sea of ??consciousness, “Something is wrong with this taoist temple. Be careful.”

Qin Yi walked to the door of the taoist temple and asked in a low voice, “What’s wrong?”

Liu Su said, “There may be beastkin hiding outside the back door.”

“You sensed the beastkin aura?”

“My soul power is weak, so I can’t sense beastkin aura.” Liu Su said, “If your house has been unoccupied for a month, would there be such a big spider web? I think it’s a bit unusual, so I suspect that there are spider beastkin and the like, but it hid in shock with your sudden arrival…”

Qin Yi was startled, “Then this kind of beastkin monster has much more wisdom than that tiger beastkin, and its beastkin power is probably stronger. They really may not be able to deal with it, so I have to remind…”

“Don’t, I said I can’t sense beastkin aura. It’s purely a guess. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if I guessed wrongly?”

“…”

“Don’t worry, since it is hiding, it has a tacit understanding. The Li Family’s brother and sister have such a dignified aura with the spears, so it will not provoke easily. It’s just that spiders hate noises and their webs being broken. Therefore, if we just don’t make too much noise and destroy its spider web, we will basically be safe.”

Qin Yi breathed a sigh of relief, “Then it’s fine. The Li Family’s brother and sister are not boisterous people.”

As a result, when he returned to the taoist temple, the first thing he saw was Li Qingjun holding a stick and reaching out to sweep the spiderwebs.

Qin Yi was sweating profusely and rushed over to stop her, “What are you doing?”

Li Qingjun turned around and glared at him, “What am I doing? Such a big spider web is right next to me, doesn’t it look frightening?”

“Oh, what I mean is that this kind of dirty work doesn’t need to be done by miss. I will do it; let me do it.”

Li Qingjun didn’t insist either. She let him take the stick before she turned around and walked toward the back door.

Qin Yi pulled her back again, “Where are you going?”

Li Qingjun slowly lowered his gaze, looking at his big hand holding her wrist with a blank expression.

Qin Yi knew that it was inappropriate to hold onto a girl like this, so even Li Qinglin’s expression had become weird. He could only let go and said, “It’s dark at night, plus it’s raining heavily. It’s too dangerous to go out alone…”

Before his words were finished, a group of wandering artists rushed toward the taoist temple in the rain, “There is a taoist temple here. We can take shelter from the rain!”

Qin Yi covered his forehead with a palm.

TL: No more classical chinese poems please…

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